From: matz@... (Yukihiro Matsumoto) Date: 2002-03-13T03:58:01+09:00 Subject: Re: Some potential RCRs Hi, In message "Some potential RCRs" on 02/03/13, "Bob Alexander" writes: |------------------ |"p" method should return its last argument, unconverted. Hmm. I'd like to hear others' opinion. |------------------ |A format specification in "printf"-type formats that inserts the result of applying "inspect" to the |argument. | |E.g. "Value of x: %r\n" % x. Sounds good, but I'm not sure whether %r is good or not. Maybe it's too ambiguous. We should be quite conservative about non traditional (and perhaps non intuitive) mnemonic. |------------------ |A "println" method. | |Would work just like "print" but would tack on a newline. Yeah, I know it doesn't seem much different than |just coding "\n" as a final parameter, but I find "println" more pleasing and more self-describing How much omitting the last "\n" might buy you? |------------------ |String#count should also accept Regexp as argument. | |Would extend the power of this method. Define the exact behavior. Something like "str.scan(re).size"? If so, it might make the "count" method kinda double meaning. |------------------ |Dir methods that produce directory entries should never produce "." and "..". |I see no use in producing "." and "..", and it is a nuisance having to explicitly filter them out (usually |after forgetting to do it and getting a program error!) Also, seems a tad non-portable. I'd like to hear others' opinion about this issue too. |------------------ |The built-in Mutex object should be nestable. | |Acquiring a mutex in nested contexts in the same thread should not cause deadlock. It doesn't seem |appropriate for a language at Ruby's level to have a non-nestable Mutex, and it is a pothole for program |errors. I will take time to investigate it later (I'm not a thread expert). Maybe one of you help me with better implementation. |------------------ |A "message" parameter for "abort". | |Coding | | abort("the program did something bad") | |would print the message before terminating. Sounds good. It will be in 1.7 soon. matz.